The present invention relates, in general, to hot water heater plumbing circuitry and in particular to a modular water heater connection apparatus for integrally joining two conventional water heaters, toward operation thereof as an integrated unit.
Presently, when the owner of a hot water heater requires additional hot water heating capacity the most conventional way of solving this problem is to replace the smaller capacity, older, water heating unit with a substantially expensive new large capacity water heater. This is unfortunately true with regard to water heaters where prices increase substantially greater than the relative water heating capacity increases. It is of substantial benefit to a water heater user to be able to increase water heating capacity not by replacing and junking his older, still operating water heater but by merely purchasing and installing a smaller water heater or like size and brand next to the older existing unit and combining the two into a tandem, parallel operation. While jerry-rigged interconnection between water heater appliances have been done in the past, the substantial time involved with an "on-site" installation, the problems arising out of unequal flow between the connected water heaters wherein one water heater is overtaxed compared to the other, the difficulty in available work space and intereference with ductwork and flues, and the ever-present safety problems presented by extended unisolated hot water piping have often made such installations, to date, impractical.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a modular water heater connection apparatus capable of expanding the water heater capacity of a single water heating unit through the tandem "parallel" arrangement of another one of like construction and size next to it, through an inexpensive apparatus which is capable of facilitating the connecting operation to in turn save expensive plumbing costs. Accordingly, it is such an object of the invention to preclude the need for purchasing a larger capacity water heater and discarding an otherwise operable water heating unit.
It is additionally an object of the present invention to provide such a water heater connection apparatus which is low-profile in structure to accommodate simultaneously the isolation of hot water pipes while avoiding interference with flues and ductwork in a modular design.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an installation apparatus which is capable of connecting like heaters in like sizes while at the same time permitting a balanced flow of hot and cold water into the integrated hot water system and out of the hot water system respectively so as to preclude the uneven strain on any one of the two modularly connected devices.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide such an apparatus which safely connects the two water heaters into a closed modular system.
A related object of the invention is to provide such a connection apparatus which may be prefabricated in volumes so as to efficiently reduce the substantial time and costs involved with on-site fabrication, one which may be so prefabricated for a number of known water heater makes, models and capacities. In line with this object is the additional object of such a prefabricated installation device which permits the application of conventional pipe fitting and formation techniques including sweating, fluxing and burnishing at an off-site location so as to reap the economies afforded thereby.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent in light of the present specification and drawings.